


In Which Dan Is A Bit Of An Asshole And The Whole Story Is One Big, Fat Cliché

by obsessivechild



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Enemies, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Hatred, High School, M/M, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 23:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7733842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsessivechild/pseuds/obsessivechild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan hated school. He hated running. He hated going out. He hated homework. But above all, he hated Philip Lester.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Dan Is A Bit Of An Asshole And The Whole Story Is One Big, Fat Cliché

Okay, yes, it is quite possible that this could be a super cliché story but it’s just how things have turned out. Not my fault at all. I mean, sure I could have avoided this whole situation altogether by not being a self-righteous asshole but then who would I be? And I happened to _like_ how things had turned out.

It all started in English at the start of the year. I was starting year eleven and I wasn’t sure if I was looking forward to leaving or not. I mean, obviously I _did_ want to leave but the prospect of having to do some exams first was a little daunting. Who wanted to be judged on their ability to remember facts in order to carry on their education at college? Fuck that.

Thinking about that had been too much already so I _really_ could have done without being told off for _nothing_. Being a common teenager, I was prone to talking to my friends during lessons to help with the torment of learning shitty things you didn’t want to learn. What I didn’t expect was for my teacher, Ms Greys, to come over to me personally and ask me to basically shut the fuck up. When I had explained that I was obviously talking about the _work_ , Ms Greys told me that someone on another table had complained about my loud voice and _’annoying’_ laugh.

I glanced around to look for the culprit and my eyes stopped when they landed on a specific person already looking at me with a slight smirk on his face. I should have known.

Ever since Philip Lester had joined the school half a year ago, we hadn’t exactly met eye-to-eye. Okay, I admit that when I had first laid eyes on him, I had thought that he was pretty attractive; with his big blue eyes and black fringe that I could only dream about having. However, my opinion of him evidently changed for the worst when he had started hanging around with PJ Ligouri, one of the most popular guys in my year, and I saw girls flock to him almost instantly.

How come this guy got to be so popular so quickly anyway? Some of us had been with these people for almost five years, excluding the six years of primary school. This guy had only been here five minutes and all he had to do was bat his eyelashes for practically everyone to go running to him. Even _teachers_ seemed to be sluts for him.

Phil didn’t help matters by behaving like a total teacher’s pet most of the time and flashing his smile at whoever he wanted for them to go weak at the knees. Not me though. I had managed to avoid any contact with him for his first few weeks.

It wasn’t like I wanted to be popular. I was fine with being invisible and sitting at the back but it just annoyed me, you know? Why were some people given everything they wanted while the little guys had to work for it? People like that irritated me.

At first, I gave Phil a chance. Maybe it wasn’t his fault that he had a perfect smile and bright eyes and maybe he was just naturally charming. I formed my own opinion on him after I was moved next to him in Physics. By then, he had been at our school for more than two months and I was probably one of the only people who hadn’t voluntarily spoken to him. Even Louise and Chris had spoken to him, not without some protesting from me, and tried to convince me that he was a nice guy.

I was obviously skeptical though and I wanted to judge him and come to a conclusion myself. I saw myself as a good judge of character.

At first, we didn’t really talk. Physics wasn’t exactly an active interest on my part so I didn’t really feel like striking up a conversation about atoms and shit like that. Even though I didn’t really speak, Phil did. He had his hand up a lot with answers and questions and just _ugh_. It got on my nerves. I wasn’t a big fan of people who actually _enjoyed_ the hellhole that was school.

So, obviously that started off the initial dislike I felt towards him because in every class I shared with him, he was like that. He practically had the teachers eating out of his hands. That wasn’t right. How could a nerd like that be popular and super attractive as well? Why did he seem to be so _perfect_?

It wasn’t like I was _jealous_ of him or something. Jeez, how’d you get to that conclusion? I just didn’t understand how someone who _enjoyed_ school got so much attention from the hot girls and the equally hot boys. He literally had his pick of the year. Not that I cared.

Adding to the teacher’s pet aspect and to me disliking him even more, Phil actually tried to talk to me during Physics. Sure, that wasn’t a big deal but it was when he was correcting my work and unintentionally making fun of me with the whole _”Hey,_ _you_ _have_ _a_ _curl_ _in_ _your_ _hair._ _Is_ _is_ _naturally_ _like_ _that?”_ Or, _”Oh,_ _I_ _didn’t_ _realise_ _you_ _were_ _left-handed”_. Irritating. Why did he have to fixate on my flaws?

I kind of made it known to him that I didn’t like him by practically ignoring him every time he spoke to me and shrugging off his remarks. Like, okay, I knew I didn’t have a solid enough reason for not liking him but I just didn’t. He was too good at everything and just annoying in general. That was plenty, right?

I had been fine with just ignoring him but one lesson during Physics, he outright asked me, “Do you not like me or something, Dan?”

I had just snorted slightly before going back to doodling in the back of my book. Looked like that was the end of that conversation.

So, he had found out about my slight dislike towards him and that was all I thought was going to happen until the next lesson when as soon as he had sat down, he turned to me and said, “Why don’t you like me?”

I had vaguely recognised his question and just shrugged. It wasn’t that I _properly_ didn’t like him. Not yet anyway. Phil helped with that by saying, “Fine, don’t give me a reason then. I don’t like you either.”

Right, okay then. How old was he acting? Five? Like, sure, I was one to talk but still. The next thing I said I kind of regret after but I didn’t realise how bad it sounded when I did say it. “You’re just kinda fake.”

“What?” His voice became quieter.

At the time, I hadn’t thought I was being mean because I was just saying what I thought and how could that be upsetting? I was kind of an idiot in that sense. “I just don’t understand how you like school and you’re like, popular as well. It sounds pretty fake to me. You must be faking one part.” As I said, _idiot_.

Phil had just stared at me before looking down to his book in silence. I had just shrugged it off. I even thought that I was right for a bit.

Ever since then, we never talked to each other in Physics. Not even when we were supposed to do partner work. Phil usually just did the work and handed it in for the both of us which was completely fine by me.

It continued like that for a few weeks and then it turned nasty. Like, not _really_ nasty but still nasty. Basically, all I had been doing was walking innocently down the corridor with Chris and we happened to pass Phil and PJ. Chris stopped to say hi to them and I sort of just hung at his shoulder. All I did was look at Phil and he was already practically glaring at me. Like, _excuse_ me but who did he think he was?

I hadn’t even _done_ anything either. I was the innocent victim in all of this.

Chris had noticed the look because he looked from Phil to me and said, “You guys know each other, right?”

“Unfortunately.” Was Phil’s reply and I almost had to stop my jaw from dropping. Like, what the fuck?

PJ and Chris had shared a look before Chris made an excuse and we left. Ever since then, it was known that Phil, who apparently liked everyone, didn’t like me. What a reputation.

It took Phil about five weeks before he snapped. Kudos to him, he lasted a while. During lunch one day, he had randomly appeared next to the table me, Chris and Louise were sat at and just looked at me. “I’m not fake.”

“What?” I raised my eyebrows at him, not having had expected him to ever speak to me again.

“I’m not fake.” He repeated, crossing his arms, “I can’t help it that I actually like school and everyone in the year likes me.”

No offence, but I thought that sounded a little egotistical. My only response was to mutter, “Not everyone.”

That had put a glare on Phil’s face and he practically stormed off.

"What the fuck?" Chris had questioned and I just shrugged because whatever. I didn't care that he didn't like me. He'd get over it.

"Did you call Phil fake for liking school?" Louise was ready to hit me.

"You have to admit, it's strange that he does." I tried to defend myself, "He's the only person I've ever met who is popular _and_ likes school and learning. Doesn't really add up. I think he's either pretending to like all those people or he's just trying to show off in class."

Louise had just stared at me before calling me an idiot.

Okay, maybe I _was_ an idiot but Phil didn't have to react like that. I mean, come on, he _was_ being a little dramatic.

I didn't really give it all much thought until Chris called me up one Friday night and asked if I'd heard _'the_ _rumour'_. Apparently, _someone_ had gone around telling everyone that I was a conceited bastard who didn't give a shit about anyone's feelings. No props for guessing who.

At first, I laughed it off but when I went into school on the Monday and noticed a lot of people staring at me and whispering, I felt my jaw clench in anger. What the fuck was that guy's problem?

I had decided to leave it because I namely couldn't be fucked and I didn't think he was worth my time. The rest of that year was full of shared glares and quietly swearing at him.

That had all been ages ago now; Summer had been and gone since then and we were into the new year. It didn't look like this little _'feud'_ between me and Phil had come to an end though. That was confirmed when I ran into him in the corridor on the first day in September and he had just scowled at me before turning and going in the opposite direction.

I was unaffected by that but when he started purposely making snide comments that were obviously aimed at me in PE about how lazy some people were ( _yeah_ _okay_ , _I_ _didn't_ _like_ _running_ , _who_ _did?_ ) and laughing quietly if I got a question wrong in Biology when I was picked on by the teacher, I was beginning to get angry.

Since when could he be such an asshole anyway? I often overheard people in my year talking about how nice he was and how _Jessica_ _had_ _a_ _crush_ _on_ _him_ _because_ _he_ _was_ _"so_ _sweet"_ _but_ _she_ _was_ _too_ _shy_ _to_ _ask_ _him_ _out_. Who the fuck cared?

I was still apparently the only person he had a problem with. That was all it was though: just his petty jabs and me occasionally telling him to shut up if he was talking to his friends and I was passing and other things like that. Some would argue that we were both being childish but I didn't care and neither did he apparently.

Anyway, back to English and the fact that Philip fucking Lester had asked the teacher to get me to shut up. Like _he_ was perfect anyway. Well, he _was_ but that was beside the point.

I just glared at him before turning back around. What an asshole.

"Are you two ever going to get over whatever the fuck this is?" Chris rolled his eyes at me when I told him what had happened at lunch.

"I have to agree with Chris." Louise didn't really surprise me by picking the moral high ground, "You said something stupid and he lashed out and now you're both stuck in this stupid hate cycle. Maybe you should apologise."

"What the fuck? No way!" I set my jaw, "I'm not apologising to that asshole."

"He's actually a really nice guy." Chris started eating his sandwich, "You didn't really give him much of a chance."

"I can tell when people are assholes and he happens to be one." Was my reply and I decided that that was the end of the conversation.

"Some would argue that you're one, too." Louise muttered.

I didn't care if I seemed like an asshole. I wasn't going to give in and apologise after he had told everyone I was full of myself. I sometimes still had a couple of people ask me if it was true and I was pretty sure no one believed me when I said that it wasn't. Maybe getting into a feud with a guy who had a lot of connections hadn't been the best idea. Still, I hadn't picked him on purpose.

I'd never actually had an active reciprocated hatred towards well, anyone before. It was more infuriating than it was interesting. Especially when I saw his stupid, smug face. He thought he was _so_ great, didn't he?

I subconsciously glared at him across the Canteen. He was sat at the usual full table and laughing with his friends. Asshole.

I was so fucking glad we didn't have to sit by each other anymore in Physics. New year, new seating plan. At least, that was what I was assuming because all of my classes had done that so far.

You probably know already that I was completely wrong. My Physics teacher, Mr Hew, started the first lesson of the year off normally and when someone asked about moving seats, he said, "This arrangement worked well last year. There's no point in changing it."

It hadn't work out so well for me.

Phil was silent as usual the whole lesson and his note-taking was getting on my nerves. Who the fuck took notes in class anyway? He was such a suck-up.

"Stop it." He randomly muttered during the last fifteen minutes of the lesson.

"What?" I looked up from staring down at my book and pretending I didn't exist.

"Stop drawing. It's annoying."

Um, excuse me? I looked back down to the absentminded doodles on the side of my page. How had that been annoying?

"You're annoying." I retaliated weakly, not thinking of anything else to say, and continued to draw my little rocket ship. He'd just have to kiss my ass.

"Sir!" Phil put his hand up.

Before I could mentally, or actually, swear at him, Mr Hew came over. "Yes, Phil?"

"Dan's ruining his book by drawing in it."

I calmly, yes _calmly_ , put my pen down and looked at them.

Mr Hew sighed and turned to me, "Don't start the year off like this, Howell. If you don't pay attention, how do you intend to pass your exams?"

"I learn better at home, Sir." I tried to ignore Phil's smug face by smiling at my teacher.

"Well, that may be the case but I suggest you take notes here and then look them over at home. I want you to get the best grade you can." Mr Hew went back over to his desk.

Phil's stupid smile was still on his face as he turned back to face the board and I almost felt like slapping it off. He was so annoying, why did people like him?

When I voiced this question to Chris when we were walking home he just rolled his eyes at me as usual and said, "You're literally the only person who thinks he's annoying. If you actually had a proper conversation with him-"

"I don't _want_ a proper conversation with him." I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Nope, Philip Lester was not worth my time. And yet I focussed a lot of my efforts on hating him...

"This is getting old now, Dan." Chris sighed, “You both don't have much of a reason for not liking each other. I actually think you could be really good friends. He likes Muse."

I tried to ignore the feeling that revelation pulled out of me. Anyone who liked Muse was instantly in my good books but this was Phil... Goddammit, it was a little harder to hate him now.

"So?" I managed to scoff, looking away. No, I didn't give a shit that a guy I hated liked my favourite band. I didn't care at _all_.

"You're really fucking irritating sometimes, you know that?"

I'd heard a few comments to that effect in my lifetime. "Whatever. I just don't like him."

The problem was, no one else saw Phil for the annoying bitch he was because he only acted that way towards me. If he was like that towards Chris or Louise, they would hate him as well. It frustrated me a little that no one was on my side but there was no way I was going to give in to make it easier for myself. I honestly thought that there was no way we could salvage whatever the fuck this was between us. This hatred was going to last forever.

Okay, that was kind of dramatic but so was I.

I honestly could see this stupid rivalry lasting until the end of school and then we would never have to see each other again. That was something to look forward to.

I managed to avoid Phil all day the next day and I almost thought I was home-free until I realised I had PE last. Obviously, Phil was in my class but so was Chris so I had a bit of back-up even if he didn’t agree with me most of the time.

I really hated PE. It was such a stupid school requirement. I did wish I didn’t have to do it but sometimes it could be a laugh. Chris was a funny motherfucker and we fucked about for most of the lessons. That was until Phil did something to piss me off and then I spent the rest of the hour angry.

Luckily, the closer exams got, the less the school focussed on the importance of Physical Education. Unless you had chosen it as an option, the teachers kind of gave up on actually trying to teach you anything and the lessons were used as more of an excuse to let off steam than to do anything else. We were only in our first week of the year though so it was a little way off before that happened.

Our first module was cricket and I wasn’t actually too bothered about that. The real torment was rugby and football. And cross-country. Fuck, I hated running with a passion.

Cricket was easy and involved a lot of standing around which was better than running. Plus, the batting team got to sit on a bench while they waited for their turn. That was the sort of Physical Education I could handle.

Phil hadn’t been too bad for the first half hour. We mainly just blanked each other the majority of the time unless one of us felt like jabbing at the other for no reason. Most of our year knew about our dislike for each other due to Phil’s high ranking. Half of them probably hadn’t even known my name before all of this.

It was when our teacher mixed the teams up that it became a problem. Chris and Phil were swapped so that meant I had Mr Popular on my team and no one to piss about with. It also meant that I had no one to complain to and I bet Chris was pretty happy about that.

I didn’t really have anyone else who I talked to on a regular basis on my team so that meant that I was condemned to half an hour of keeping my mouth shut. At least, that was what I had been _planning_ to do. That was before Phil decided to fucking sit next to me on the bench and _talk_ to me.

“You done the physics homework yet?” He asked and I had already grown suspicious from the moment he had sat next to me. What was his game?

“No.” I grumbled, trying my best to seem aloof but this sudden attempt at conversation had intrigued me. Maybe he was trying to fix whatever this was between us?

He smirked at me. “Thought as much. You’d better get doing it. It’s due tomorrow. Although, I doubt you will. You don’t seem to understand the concept of deadlines.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I should have known that he was just using this as some attempt to put me down. Could no one else hear this? Although, they wasn’t exactly tear-jerking insults. I was just being a baby.

“You would know, Mr Goody-Two-Shoes.” I seemed to settle on, cringing a little at my choice of words, “You do know that if you didn’t have your smart-ass brain, you’d be nothing?”

His smile wavered a little. “You know that’s not true. I’m friends with practically everyone. Oh wait, I forgot, I’m just _faking_ it.” His smile was gone by then and he was full-on glaring at me.

So he was still holding onto that one then. Good to know. “Wow, you _really_ need to learn to let things go.” If I was being honest, deep down, I did regret calling him that. It wasn’t like I could say that now though. Not when he was glaring daggers at me and picking on me every chance he got.

He didn’t say anything else, just continued to glower at me before facing forward again and seemingly blocking me out. I took that as a mini victory and smiled to myself. One day, I would irritate him so much that he would never talk to me again. That was the goal.

I got up to bat more or less straight after that encounter and before I knew it, I was on the opposite end of the bench again. This game was so fucking boring.

After a few more minutes, we all moved up and Phil sat back down next to me; apparently with nothing to say this time. I took this to my advantage.

"I'm _sorry_ , Phil. I didn't mean to ruin what was left of your pride."

He turned his head instantly to scowl at me and said, "I still don't understand why you're so mean to me."

I almost snorted after hearing that. " _Me_ mean to _you_? Did you just wake up from a fucking coma or something? You're the asshole who picks on me _constantly_." Seriously, who did he think he was?

"Only because you called me fake." He crossed his arms and faced forward again.

I wasn't letting him end this conversation though. No way did he think that _he_ was the innocent victim in all of this. "Why are you still so hung up on that? That was ages ago."

He was silent for a few moments before he turned his head slightly in my direction to say, "Because I'm _not_ fake. I don't care if you think I'm an a-hole or whatever but I'm not fake."

I still didn't get why that hurt his feelings so much. Maybe he was just playing it off in a way to get me to feel sorry for him. Well, no way was that happening. “Whatever you say.” I decided to end whatever the fuck that conversation had been.

Phil didn’t say anything else and because God was being nice for once, our teacher called it a day and we went back to the changing rooms.

“What, no _’oh_ _my_ _God_ , _Chris_ , _Phil_ _is_ _such_ _an_ _asshole_. _I_ _secretly_ _wish_ _I_ _was_ _just_ _like_ _him_.”

I narrowed my eyes at Chris’ impression of me. “Okay, first of all, my voice isn’t that high. And secondly, I don’t want to be just like Phil Lester. Anything but.”

“Still,” Chris started buttoning up his school shirt, “We’ve been in here for nearly five minutes and you haven’t moaned to me once yet and I’m pretty sure I saw you guys talking at one point. I was ready to grab the fire extinguisher in case things got too heated.”

I smirked at that. Only Chris. “It went the same way it does every time we talk. He tried to annoy me and-“

“He did? He doesn’t even have to do anything to annoy you.” Chris grinned as he tied his tie.

I had to admit that that was partially true but I wasn’t about to tell Chris that. I rolled my eyes. “Maybe he annoyed me a little but I’m pretty sure I won that round.”

He frowned at me, “Round? Of what? Are you guys in some boxing match now? Neither of you are exactly ripped.”

I seemed to roll my eyes a lot when talking to Chris. He obviously brought out that side of me. "You know what I mean."

He shoved his PE kit into his bag and looked at me. "But do I really, Dan?" He then grinned at me before pulling his bag on and leaving the changing rooms.

I rolled my eyes _again_ and followed him out, practically dragging my bag. It had been a long day.

The thing I hated most about Philip Lester was that stupid smirk he made when he made a dig at me. I also couldn't stand how dazzlingly blue his eyes were or how his fringe fell across his forehead perfectly. Another thing that made my blood boil was how everyone liked him and said hi to him when they passed.

The biggest thing, however, that I hated about Phil was that he still hung onto the fact that I had called him fake and that I still felt bad about it. That irritated me the most.

I knew that if I told my friends, they'd tell me to apologise and I knew that they would be right. I could tell that Phil would stop making snide comments towards me if I apologised because he brought it up a lot. It was probably the only thing he was upset about.

It seemed so easy to do all of that and possibly have almost a mutual respect between us but the thing was, I couldn't fix it. I was a bit of an asshole in that way. I just couldn't bring myself to apologise in case it had all been one big act and he would laugh in my face.

Deep down, I knew that wouldn't happen but I still couldn't take that risk on the likelihood that it would end up that way. I was a bit stuck.

So, it looked like this stupid feud would last a while longer. I was willing to bet money on that fact. However, what I couldn't see happening was that I would actually _defend_ Phil Lester.

"HMV and then Costa?" Chris finally decided.

"Yes, thank you for choosing. It took you long enough." I sighed, pleased in the fact that we actually knew what we were going to do that Saturday afternoon.

I wasn't a big fan of going into town or even leaving the house in general so Chris had to either plead or bribe me most of the time. This time, he had promised to buy me a hot chocolate and I wasn't going to pass up that offer. Especially when it came to marshmallows and whipped cream.

I just found town boring. There wasn't much to do and if you were broke like me, it wasn't like you could shop your troubles away. Sadly.

"I need to buy my mum an Olly Murs CD for her birthday." Chris told me as we entered HMV.

"Olly Murs? Seriously? I was thinking more Michael Bublé." I grinned, stifling a laugh.

Chris led me to the Pop section. "My mum's down with the kids."

I decided to ignore that comment and vaguely read the Artist names in front of me. For some reason, I was reminded of what Chris had said about Phil liking Muse. Why was that thought in my head anyway?

"Found it." Chris held up the CD, pulling me out of my thoughts.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty mundane and at about three, we called it a day. At least, I told Chris that I was going home. I listened to Fall Out Boy as I walked home, having left Chris at the bus station because he lived the other side of town.

Centuries was in my ears when I spotted a few guys in the park. I was just about to enter to walk through but the sight stopped me. It was clear that two of them were giving the other one a hard time. At least, I could hear some of the comments and the other guy seemed to be backed up to a tree.

I didn't know who the two bullies were but I could clearly see that the guy they were picking on was Phil Lester. I was suddenly hit with a dilemma. I could easily just walk around the park; they hadn't seen me yet. Or... Or I could go and _help_ Phil. The thought of joining the bullies crossed my mind for a second before I pushed it out. I wasn't that mean.

And I certainly wasn't a bully.

The guys were laughing and Phil was looking at his feet so I couldn't read his expression. I needed to weigh up my options quickly. The two guys were tall but so was I after my recent growth spurt and Phil wasn't exactly short so they didn't look that menacing.

Fuck it. No one was allowed to pick on Phil but me.

I took my headphones out and strode over to them, not sure what I was planning to do.

"-Fuck, you're just like your brother: a crybaby. Aw don't cry." I managed to hear one of them laugh as I stopped right behind them.

"What's going on?" I decided to go with, pushing out all the cliché lines you would hear in movies.

The two guys turned to look at me and Phil lifted his head. I tried to pretend that I didn't see the tears in his eyes.

"The fuck are you?" The other one literally spat onto the floor and I had to hold back a cringe. A lot of guys in our year randomly spat and it was so fucking _disgusting_. What had happened to manners?

"I could ask you the same question." I stood my ground, deciding to leave out stupid details like names, "Are you upsetting my friend?"

Phil frowned and the guys smirked at one another. "Are you supposed to be the knight in shining armour?" The spitter asked.

"If you'd like. I also go by Prince Valiant as well."

The other one laughed, "Are you gay or something?"

I just smiled back at him, not being able to help myself. “As gay as it comes. You'd better leave before you catch my _gay_ _germs_. Don't want to get infected, do you?"

The guys exchanged a look before the spitter moved to stand right in front of me. "You thing you're some tough guy?"

I actually thought the complete opposite. Before I could explain the misunderstanding, I suddenly found myself on the floor. It took me a second to realise the guy had punched me in the face. My eye started stinging. A lot.

They started laughing. "Shows you, Tough Guy."

The two dickheads grinned at Phil before walking down the path and out of sight behind more trees.

I could feel my eye starting to swell up and I hesitantly touched it. Shit, it stung. I could barely see through it anymore.

"Are you okay?" Phil rushed over to me and knelt next to me.

I looked up to see tears rolling down his cheeks and a worried expression on his face.

"I'm fine." I stood up reluctantly. I really wanted some ice or something to put on my eye.

Phil stood up again as well and began to wipe his eyes. I tried not to stare too much with my good eye.

"Thanks..." Phil's voice was quiet as he sniffed.

He really did look upset and I wasn't about to be mean to him after that. It wouldn’t hurt my Phil-hating reputation if I was nice to him just once. "That's okay. Who were those guys?"

He rubbed his eyes. "Just some guys who go to Sixth Form with my brother. They recognised me, I guess."

"Why were they picking on you?" I felt a little awkward about asking these questions but I wanted to know so I could make sure that it didn't happen again.

Phil shrugged, "They were just bored, I suppose. I was an easy target."

That made me feel a little sad. Did Phil look vulnerable to those guys?

"How come you helped me anyway?" He asked curiously, “I thought you'd be the last person."

I didn't really have an answer for that. It just seemed like common courtesy. Even if you weren't actually that fond of the guy who was being picked on. I looked away and shrugged. "I'm not that much of an asshole."

"No." Saying that made me look at him again. He smiled a small smile. "You're not."

I couldn't help but smile back and I never thought that I would smile at Philip Lester. This felt like some strange dream.

"You really didn't have to do that." He seemed to be staring at my already mostly swollen eye.

I just shrugged, pretending that it didn't hurt like a motherfucker. "I don't mind taking a punch." That had actually been the first time anyone had ever punched me and yeah, I didn't really want to experience it again.

He seemed unsure but didn't say anything else. 

We started walking down the path in silence; for some reason, content with each other's company for the first time ever. That was until Phil suddenly said, "You called me your friend."

"What?" I looked at him in surprise.

“You asked if they were upsetting your _friend_. I didn’t know we were friends.” I couldn’t help but notice his lips curl up into a slight smile as he looked ahead.

I coughed slightly to hide my embarrassment and muttered, “Just a figure of speech.”

“Sure.” I could hear the grin in his voice and I was already part of the way back to disliking him again. He never knew when to leave things did he?

“Just shut up.” I tried not to smile myself for some reason. What the fuck, I thought he irritated me not made me smile. “This never happened, okay?”

If only Chris could see me now: fraternising with the enemy. There was no way I was telling him anything. I would never live any of it down. Especially if he told Louise.

“Don’t want the fact you helped someone when they were being bullied to ruin your bad-boy reputation?”

I looked at Phil and he was smiling widely at me like this was the most amusing thing that had happened to him all week. Maybe it was.

“I’d prefer to just pretend it didn’t happen.” I said. I didn’t actually want anything to change between us. I kind of enjoyed teasing him at school. Was that kind of twisted? Maybe it was because it was two-sided.

“Sure. If that’s what you want.”

I was slightly surprised at how pliant he was being. I had expected at least some sort of blackmail threat. He was just agreeing though.

“Uh thanks.” I looked forward again to see that we were reaching the end of the park. I was kind of hoping that he went left here so we didn’t have to walk together anymore. I wanted things to get back to normal as soon as possible.

We both stopped at the end of the path and I reluctantly turned to look at him. He was already looking at me with his smile still present. “Thanks again. I'm sorry you got hurt.” He started fiddling with his fringe, “I’ll see you in Physics on Monday.”

I forced myself not to watch the way his fingers brushed through his hair and mumbled, “Yeah, okay.”

We then stood staring at each other for another awkward second before he turned left and I started walking right, towards the crossing.

I didn’t listen to music for the rest of the way home; I decided to walk in silence as I thought about what had happened. I didn’t regret helping Phil but it did make me wonder if things were different between us now. Only one way to find out, I suppose.

I tried not to think about it too much over the remainder of the weekend and before I knew it, I was on my way to Physics on Monday morning. When did I get to leave again?

I was always one of the first to Physics because my form was only on the floor below. Phil slid into the chair next to me a minute or so later and at first, it was as if nothing had happened. Although, the atmosphere was definitely different; it was less tense.

That aside, I was almost believing myself that it hadn’t happened. That was until Mr Hew set up some partner work and Phil turned to me and said, “Morning, Friend. How's your eye?"

“We’re not friends.” I narrowed my eyes at him. I should’ve known, for fuck’s sake.

He giggled a little before replying, “Alright, fine. Whatever you’re telling yourself. We both know it isn’t true though.”

This was helping me to remember why he annoyed me so much. “We hate each other.” I wasn't sure who I was trying to remind more, him or me.

He just shrugged, “Another lie we keep telling ourselves.” And then he started the work in his book.

I just stared at him in confusion. What the fuck did that even mean? Why was he trying to be all mysterious and thought-provoking? What happened to him glaring at me and bringing up the fact that I had called him fake last year?

He didn’t speak to me for the rest of the lesson and I left the classroom quickly when we were allowed to go in case he tried to again. Maybe I shouldn’t have helped him on Saturday.

Obviously, I couldn't hide my black eye so I got bombarded with questions from Chris and Louise at break. Especially as it looked a lot worse than the day before. I just made up some lie that I had walked into a door and for some reason, they actually believed it. Maybe I wasn't threatening enough for people to think I'd been in a fight. I didn't really like the fact that the injury was reminding me that I'd helped out Phil when I was trying to forget about it.

“What’s troubling you, Daniel?” Louise asked at lunchtime. I had barely spoken for twenty minutes and when I had looked over to Phil’s table, he had caught my eye and smiled. I ended up dropping my gaze to the table and keeping it there. Smiling never used to be a common occurrence.

“Nothing.” I looked up at her and Chris who were sat across from me at the table.

“Can I call bullshit?” Chris looked at Louise and she nodded in reply. Chris looked back at me. “Bullshit.”

I sighed, not having the energy for this. “I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“Bullshit.” Chris repeated with a grin, apparently enjoying himself.

Louise tried a different approach, “This doesn’t have something to do with He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named, does it?”

“Yes, Lou, it’s definitely about Voldemort.”

Chris gasped dramatically and I rolled my eyes. This wasn't helping with my situation at all.

“You know what I mean.” Louise unwrapped her sandwich, “A certain Mr Lester.”

I sighed again and looked over to him without thinking. He was talking to PJ and laughing and for some reason, I kind of wanted to know the joke. Maybe I _was_ pretending to hate him. Shit, this was messing with my head.

“What happened now?” Chris asked, an exasperated tone already intact, “You guys argue in Physics this morning? I noticed that he didn’t get you told off in English like usual.”

So even other people were noticing the difference. “No, nothing like that.”

“Oh.” Louise looked up from her cheese sandwich in surprise, “You haven’t argued today?"

I just shook my head, my gaze moving back down to the table top. I hadn't gone nearly a whole day without at least a couple of remarks from Phil to me or the other way around before.

“Maybe that’s why you’re in a bad mood. Maybe arguing with Phil Lester is your caffeine fix.”

I chuckled at Chris’ words and looked up again. “Pretty sure that’s not true.”

“Then what’s up? Why has he got you in a bad mood?” Louise asked.

"I'm not in a bad mood, I'm just... I don't know." I had no idea how to even begin to explain it. What mood was I in?

They were both frowning at me as if me and emotions other than anger wasn't a regular occurrence. Well, they usually weren't when it came to Phil.

"You're in love with him. I called it!" Chris beamed and held his hands up in triumph.

I almost physically gagged. "What the fuck- _No_!"

Louise started giggling. Nice to see that she was enjoying this.

“Seriously, you’re showing all the signs.” Chris carried on, apparently settling on this conclusion, “You don’t shut up about him half the time, you use any excuse to tease him and when he doesn’t show any interest in starting an argument, you’re down in the dumps.”

“How is that love?” I scoffed, not believing any of this for one second.

“I think Chris might have something here.” Even _Louise_ was agreeing with this theory.

“What the fuck? How?” I was aware that my voice had gone almost a whole octave higher in pitch but I pretended not to notice. Why were we even discussing this? There was no way that I was _in_ _love_ with _Phil_ _Lester_.

“I was just joking.” Chris started laughing and I couldn’t help but glower at him.

“No, seriously.” Louise put down her sandwich; she meant business, “When isn’t the first thing to come out of Dan’s mouth _’Phil_ _is_ _such_ _an_ _asshole’_?”

“I don’t sound like that.” I huffed, “I don’t whine _that_ much.”

Chris and Louise exchanged a look before Louise continued, “It’s true though. I swear about eighty percent of our conversations start with the topic of Phil Lester and who’s the one to bring it up all the time?”

“Ooh, I know!” Chris raised his hand.

Louise smirked. “Yes, Chris?”

Chris dropped his arm. “It’s Dan, isn’t it?”

“Very good.” Louise nodded in agreement.

This was bullshit. What were they even trying to prove? Yeah, sure, I talked about Phil a lot but that was only because he got on my nerves so much. “What’s your point?” I crossed my arms on the table in front of me.

Louise grinned at me in silence for a few moments before saying, “I think you secretly like him and you’re trying to cover it up.”

Chris was already nodding before she’d finished her sentence.

Again, this was bullshit. “You guys are assholes.”

“Like Phil?” Chris wiggled his eyebrows.

I grumbled something under my breath and kept the sour look on my face. I didn't need to hear this.

“He’s not denying it.” Chris nudged Louise and she nodded.

“I don’t like Phil.” I sighed. There, was that what they wanted to hear?

Chris was about to say something else when he stopped and instead, started hitting Louise on the shoulder and whispering, “Speak of the devil and he shall arise. He is arising!”

I frowned at whatever the fuck he was doing before I noticed Phil appear next to our table. He seemed awkward and looked at me from behind his fringe, a small smile on his face. “Hey, Dan?”

I could vaguely see Louise and Chris holding hands in anticipation out of the corner of my eye. I decided to ignore that. “Uh yeah?”

Some people in the Canteen seemed to be watching us, the whole of Phil’s table included. I didn’t know what to think.

Phil started fiddling with his hair again like he had been doing on Saturday and I couldn’t help but just stare at him. I’d never seen him act that way before and now I had twice in the space of three days?

“I was wondering if you wanted help with your Physics homework?”

Again, I just stared at him; a slight frown on my face and my mouth partially open.

When I hadn’t replied, Phil continued, “You know, because you never do it so I was wondering if you want help so you could avoid a detention this time?”

“W-Why?” I finally found my voice under the layer of shock that consumed most of my body.

The smile found its way back onto Phil’s face and he dropped his hand from his fringe. “As a thank you for Saturday. And to um... Make up for your uh... Eye.”

My confused expression left and a slightly annoyed one replaced it. “I told you to forget about it.”

“I know but…” He stopped mid-sentence, biting his lip. Was this actually what he was like? I supposed that I wasn’t used to seeing the sweet side of Phil and if everyone was right, this must be what he was like most of the time.

My expression softened again. I felt a little bad for snapping. “Um sure then.” What was the harm really? It would shut him up and possibly make him finally forget about the whole thing.

His eyes brightened, “Really?”

I nodded and tried to ignore how cute he looked with that hopeful look on his face. “Yeah, whatever.”

He started rummaging through his bag until he found a notebook and a pen. After placing the notebook on the table and scribbling something onto a clean page, he ripped it out and handed it to me. “That’s my address and my number. Did you want to come over tomorrow after school maybe?”

I just nodded, looking down at the piece of paper in my hand and then back up at him. He had put the notebook and pen away again and his smile was back in full bloom. “See you then.” He smiled and then went back over to his table.

I stared after him for a moment before turning back to face Louise and Chris. I wasn’t surprised to see both of them with their mouths open and their eyes wide.

“What the fuck.” Chris frowned at me, looking over to Phil and back again. Well, that encounter probably had looked very strange. Like, it had _felt_ strange.

I just shrugged, folding up the piece of paper and putting it into my shirt pocket. I could have easily thrown it away and not turned up but for some reason, I didn’t want to do that. I was curious as to why Phil even wanted me at his house.

“Seriously, Dan, you can’t just leave us hanging.” Louise stared at me with wide eyes and it was a little unnerving to say the least.

“I just ran into him on Saturday, that’s all.”

“And?” She pressed on, practically bouncing out of her seat. Chris was exactly the same and I didn’t know who’s direct eye contact was worse.

“A couple of guys were giving him a hard time so I just told them to get lost. No big deal.” Maybe I shouldn’t have chosen those words.

“No big deal!” Louise threw them back at my face, “You basically did the hero act!”

I looked at Chris and frowned. He just shrugged.

Luckily, Louise decided to elaborate, “The hero act is when you dream about a guy saving you from something. You _actually_ did it.”

“I didn’t really save him.” I smirked. This was kind of ridiculous. I was far from being any sort of Prince Charming.

“Maybe not but you caused him to feel some respect for you. Let’s face it, you’d be surprised too if the guy you thought hated you was suddenly fighting on your side. Wait... Is that how you got the black eye?”

“Uh yeah. I guess I'd feel surprised if that happened to me…” I still wasn’t buying it. Maybe it _had_ been a bit of a shock for Phil when I had turned up and defended him. I hadn’t really thought much about it at the time.

"You took a punch for him! That has to mean something."

“Maybe he loves you too.” Chris was grinning again and I felt like slapping it off his face.

“Shut up! No one loves anyone, okay?”

“Well, he did invite you over to his house.” Louise started smiling as well.

“You know what that means.” Chris wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

“Shut the fuck up, Chris.” Thank God the bell decided to chime then. I ignored their further taunts as I headed off to my form. I was glad it was the other side of the school. That meant no more badgering. At least, not for the time being.

I didn't have a lesson with Phil on Tuesday so that meant I had no reason to make contact with him. However, this was no normal Tuesday. He had asked me to go to his house and had given me his number. I supposed that he thought that we were friends now. I wasn't too sure about that. Surely it would take more than an act of defence to repair half a year of teasing and anger.

Chris and Louise were unbearable. I was tempted to hide out in the boys toilets at lunch to hide from them but I wasn't that desperate yet. I would just have to grin and bear it.

"So what do you think of kissing on the first date?" Was the first thing Chris asked when I had sat down.

I just looked at him for a few moments before flipping him off and saying, "It isn't a date."

"Usually when a boy gives you his number and asks you to go to his house, it's probably a little more than platonic." Louise said, matter-of-factly.

"We're doing homework. How romantic." I muttered, getting my lunch out of my bag.

"That's just an excuse." Louise was apparently a relationship expert now. It wasn't as if she'd been in that many.

"Have you messaged him yet?" Chris asked.

"No. Why would I?" I may not have messaged him but I had programmed his number into my phone. You know, just in case.

"Don't tell me you're doing the stupid wait three days thing." Louise rolled her eyes and opened her yoghurt, "For the record, no one even likes that rule."

"I'm not doing anything. That's the point. I helped him out and now he's going to help me out. That's all. Things will return to normal tomorrow probably." I was almost believing it myself but I couldn't ignore a small stab of doubt in the back of my mind. It really seemed like things were going to change now.

"I bet they walk into school holding hands." Chris grinned at Louise.

"First kiss on the playground. How romantic." Louise giggled.

It was a lost cause when they teamed up against me. There wasn't even any point in trying to defend myself or tell them any different.

Like, okay, sure, I found Phil attractive but who didn't? You had to be an idiot _not_ to recognise that fact. I could appreciate his ocean eyes and his wonky but cute smile, right? Everyone probably did.

I also couldn't help but notice how clumsy he was in PE. It was one of the biggest things I teased him about. In a way, it was kind of endearing the way he lost his balance easily; like he wasn't used to his height yet. He had two left feet. Being a left-footed person myself, I didn't mind him occasionally joining the team.

I could tell that Phil was quite a sweet person from watching how he acted around his friends. He listened intently and never interrupted. That was the total opposite to me, really; I didn't know when to shut up. Maybe Phil could teach me how to listen.

"Are you going straight to his after school?" Louise asked, pulling me back to Earth.

"Um I don't know." I frowned in thought. What had he even said yesterday?

"Well that's helpful. You _definitely_ have to message him now." She decided for me with a definitive nod.

"He's only over there." I gestured to his and his friend's usual table.

They both glanced over before Chris said, "Yeah but do you really want to go over there?"

I looked over as well. There seemed to be more people than usual and it made me wonder why Phil had invited _me_ round, of all people. Wouldn't he rather hang out with someone more interesting? He wasn't exactly lacking in company.

"Fine, I'll message him." I gave in, taking out my phone.

Louise made a weird squeal and Chris' face lit up like Christmas day. For God's sake.

"What are you putting?" Louise asked when I started typing.

" _hey,_ _it's_ _dan_. _what's_ _happening_ _tonight?_ "

"That's a bit boring." Chris said and I frowned at him.

"So?"

"Jazz it up a bit. Add some kisses or heart eyes." He suggested with a grin.

"What a shame: I've already sent it." I smirked, putting my phone back in my pocket.

"I wonder if he'll reply now." Louise looked over to him which meant of course, so did Chris.

I sighed at them. "Well, you guys aren't obvious at _all_." Being hypocritical, I looked over as well out of habit. Phil was eating a sandwich and seemed to already have his phone on the table. Well, damn.

"I think he's replying now." Louise moved slightly so she could get a better view past Chris' head.

I looked away again and felt my phone buzz in my pocket. If I had any self-control I would have left it for a few minutes to show that I didn't give a damn. The truth was though, I really did.

I took my phone out and read the message.

"What does it say?" I was aware they were both staring at me now. This was probably the most interesting thing to happen to any of us since we started this damn school.

I read it out to them, " _You_ _can_ _meet_ _me_ _after_ _maths_ _if_ _you_ _want_. _We_ _can_ _walk_ _together_. There's also a smiley face on the end."

"Ooh, smiley face! Get in there, Dan." Chris grinned, "You have to send back a winkey face now."

"What the fuck, no!" I made a face, "I could never pull off a winkey face."

"Well, not with that attitude."

Louise pulled a thoughtful expression, "Just agree to meeting him. Maybe add a thumbs up?"

"You guys do know that I'm _not_ trying to flirt with him, right?" I started typing out a reply, "I've just said, _'sounds_ _good_."

"You're no fun." Chris pouted, taking a drink from his Coke bottle.

I rolled my eyes, tempted to remind them that I didn't even like Phil as a friend, let alone as something more. I was just playing along to let him repay me for helping him on Saturday. It was no big deal.

My phone, now on the table, buzzed, and I had to grab it quickly before Chris' hand snatched it away. "Asshole."

"What did he say?" Chris ignored my remark.

" _Can't_ _wait_. And another smiley face."

"I hate to say this, Dan, but I seriously think he likes you." Louise smiled at me as she peeled her orange.

Well, so what if he did? That didn't mean anything to me. At least, that was what I was trying to tell myself.

"He probably doesn't." I tried to make it obvious that I didn't care either way.

"I call bullshit again." Chris was scrolling on his own phone, "But if you like lying to yourself, go ahead."

That again? Really? Why was that a popular topic? I didn't lie to myself. At least, I was pretty sure I didn't.

I tried not to think about it for the rest of the day and I even pretended that I wasn't feeling nervous when I met Phil after Maths at the end of the day. After all, there was nothing to be nervous about.

"Hey." Phil smiled when he saw me and I could tell that he wasn't going to take part in our little digs at each other anymore. Everything had changed.

"Uh yeah, hi." I returned his smile reluctantly. I still wasn't sure if I was happy about becoming friends with him. After all, I'd never really liked him in the first place.

The smalltalk was luckily avoided and we started walking in silence.

The thing was, once we started walking and I really thought about it, I wasn't actually sure that I minded becoming Phil's friend. Like, I knew that I spent so long being against the idea but if Phil actually was as nice as everyone said, there couldn't be any harm, right? That was slightly hypocritical of me but to be honest, I didn't really care anymore.

It only took about fifteen minutes to get to Phil's house. My house was in the opposite direction so I didn't really know the area. The walk had been pretty quiet on both of our parts so when he spoke, I was a little surprised. "My parents won't be home until five and my brother is probably at his girlfriend's for the night."

Okay, it really sounded like he was insinuating something so I wasn't really sure what to say. "Um okay..."

He unlocked the front door and I followed him inside, immediately noticing the family photos on the wall. There was one that had been taken recently of the whole family: Phil, his parents and his apparent brother. And then another one of just Phil and his brother from about ten years ago. There was no doubt about it, Phil had definitely always been cute. How was that possible.

"You can take your shoes and bag off." Phil caught my attention again, smiling sheepishly from a doorway.

I quickly did as he suggested, leaving my shoes next to his and dropping my bag by the bottom of the stairs. He had disappeared through the doorway so I hesitantly went into the room as well. It turned out to be the kitchen.

Never in a million years did I think that I'd be standing in Phil Lester's kitchen. This was slightly surreal.

"You want a drink?" Phil started taking some glasses out of a cupboard.

"Sure." I stood awkwardly next to the table and crossed my arms. I still didn't understand why he had invited me round. Especially as last week we had been at each other's throats.

"Is water okay?" He looked over.

I just shrugged and looked down, wondering whether or not to ask him outright. Fuck it.

"Why am I here, Phil?"

"What?" He looked up from the tap and frowned, "I invited you."

"Yeah, but why?" I felt like a bit of a dick but I wanted to know. Surely my slightly heroic act hadn't had that much of an effect on him.

He handed me one of the glasses and looked down at his own. "I told you: I'm paying you back for Saturday."

"You don't need to do that. I was fine just forgetting it." I drank some of the water, watching his nervous nature. I'd never seen him nervous before. What happened to all that cocky confidence?

"I didn't want to forget it..." He finally looked up again, a small smile on his face, "No one's ever stood up for me like that before."

If I was being honest, that left me almost speechless. I found that kind of surprising considering the amount of friends he had.

"You're welcome, I guess. But it's seriously no big deal." I couldn't stop a smile appearing on my face as well.

He just shrugged, placed his glass on the table and went back through to the hallway. I did the same and followed him to see him at the bottom of the stairs, still smiling.

The photos caught my eye again and I could tell that he was watching me look at them. I decided to follow up, looking at him. "Cute photos." I nodded towards the framed portraits on the wall.

"Cute?" He smirked, starting up the stairs. Had that been the wrong thing to say?

"Well, yeah." I followed him, "How old were you?"

"In the one of me and Martyn? Six, I think."

"You were very cute." I couldn't help but say. My mum had never raised a liar.

I heard him laugh as he reached the top of the stairs. "Isn't every six year old?"

When we made it to the hallway at the top of the stairs, I apparently didn't know how to shut up. Where was the part of my brain that sorted shit out so I didn't say embarrassing things?

"Yeah but it's you."

"So?" He turned to look at me and frowned.

How the fuck was I supposed to recover from that? _I_ didn't even know what I meant by it. Looked like I just had to see it through no matter how embarrassing it was.

"Of course you were going to be cute when you were six. Like, sure, _everyone_ was cute when they were six but most people lose it at this age. Someone who's still cute now was obviously cute then."

It took Phil a moment to realise what my implication was behind those words and he suddenly starting grinning and looking down again. "You think I'm cute?"

I tried to pretend my cheeks weren't blazing. "Well, yeah, everyone does. It's like a known fact, you know?"

"No, I didn't know that." Phil opened a door, his voice quiet with... embarrassment? "And I would never have thought that _you_ would think that."

I snorted slightly because _hello_ , I'd always thought he was cute. Maybe I'd never realised that he didn't know that. That had always been part of my dislike towards him.

I followed him into the room and it was obviously his bedroom. There was a Muse poster and a Kill Bill poster on the walls, and it didn't surprise me to see his room was full of colour. He was a very colourful person.

"I'm not ashamed to admit that." I smirked, for some reason continuing with this awkward conversation. I switched my gaze from moving around his room to settle back on him.

Oh. Oh wow okay. Phil's cheeks were pink from blushing, I guess, and he was smiling a lot. Okay, wow, I'd never seen him smile like that before and I must admit that I was staring a little. He was really fucking cute, just proving my point.

"What?" His smile wavered a bit when we'd stood in silence for about five seconds.

"Oh uh nothing." I cleared my throat and looked down, not sure what else to do.

"You're cute, too." His words made me look up. He was smiling at his feet. "Even though you annoy the hell out of me most of the time, I still think you're cute. Irritating, right?" He looked up again.

Well, one: that was surprising, and two: relatable. I couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

"What?" He frowned, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

I shook my head, trying to stop the laughing. I wasn't even sure why found it funny. "It's just... I've always felt like that towards you. I mean, you piss me off more times than you don't but I still find you attractive. Is that stupid?"

He opened his mouth but nothing came out, the smile still there. Had he lost his voice?

"You draw in your Physics book." He finally said.

"What?" I frowned in confusion. Where was he going with this?

He started fiddling with his fringe again. "You draw in your Physics book and it distracts me. Your voice is really loud in English and your laugh is so... so... It makes me smile and I shouldn't smile because I don't like you. But I do. But..." He sighed and laughed at himself.

"But?" I smirked, subconsciously moving closer to him for some reason.

He dropped his hand and I could tell that he was forcing himself to look at me from how red his cheeks were. "You were mean to me so I shouldn't feel this way about you but I do."

"What way?" I was very curious now. I was tempted to remind him about that rumour he had spread about me but I was too interested in what he had to say.

"You know..." He seemed reluctant, scuffing at the floor with his foot.

"Please enlighten me." I moved even closer until I was standing right in front of him.

My movement seemed to make him even more nervous because he looked like he was finding it hard to keep his gaze on my face, only a few inches away. We had never stood this close before.

"It's nothing." He eventually mumbled, biting his lip.

We just stared at each other in silence, something passing between us but no sound. I felt like I needed to speak but I wasn't too sure what to say. After a short while, I said, "I'm sorry."

"What?" He frowned.

"For calling you fake last year. I'm not even sure why I did." It actually felt good apologising and yes, I should have done it sooner. I had been a complete dick.

Phil's expression softened. "I'm sorry for telling everyone you were a self-centred b word."

I smirked at him abstaining from swearing. "Why did we spend six months taunting each other?"

He shrugged. "We're both stubborn?"

It was almost stupid how easy it had been to "make up". I felt like slapping myself in the face because to be perfectly honest, there had been no reason for me to dislike Phil in the first place. Maybe it had been a bit of jealousy. Maybe something more. I still wasn't sure.

Phil smiled and held out a hand for me to shake. "Truce?"

I grinned back and took it. "Truce."

We shook hands for longer than necessary really and then our hands just stayed together between us. Neither of us seemed to feel like letting go and yeah, we were still stood close.

"I guess we should do the Physics homework." He said, a small smile still on his face.

I'd completely forgotten that the homework had been the reason he had invited me over. Part of me wondered if it had been just an excuse.

"Homework sounds like a good idea but..." I was suddenly interested in trying something else. It was probably a stupid idea but fuck it.

"But?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I'd rather do this." I didn't let him figure out what I meant before my mouth was on his.

If I was being completely honest with myself, I had been wondering what it would be like to kiss Phil. I just usually ignored the thought. I hated admitting that Chris and Louise were right.

I guess I had liked Phil for a while and I don't know, responded in perhaps the worst way possible. I felt like a ten year old pushing over their crush on the playground. I deserved a slap to the face.

Luckily, Phil _didn't_ slap me in response; he seemed to actually kiss me back. That was always a good sign.

After what felt like both a split second and a long time, I pulled away and rested my forehead against his. "I guess I don't actually hate you." I chuckled, my voice sounding slightly breathy.

"I should hope not." His free hand lightly grabbed the back of my shirt collar, "Because I really like you."

"Why?" I chuckled again, "I piss you off."

He laughed a little as well. "Well, yeah, but I just do. I'm not sure why. Don't question it."

"I won't then." I grinned before kissing him again.

I'd given up on wondering why anything was the way it was anymore. My head hurt from thinking too much and it was time to take a break. It was time to actually be happy.

It was pretty ironic that the guy I had originally thought angered and annoyed me, now did the complete opposite. Maybe disliking him had been some defence mechanism of mine or whatever. I don't know, I was just going with it.

The only thing I wasn't looking forward to was Chris and Louise's response to seeing me and Phil together the next day. I was expecting at least one of their heads to explode.

It was almost cringy how cliché this whole situation was but yeah, I did warn you.

If I'd known I could have avoided months of stupid, petty arguments and replaced them with Phil's arms around my neck and his mouth against mine, believe me, I would have. It was just one of those things. You know, me being a bit of an asshole. Looked like I was Phil's asshole now.


End file.
